First published in the Guardian on Wednesday 28 May 2014. Last year I had a conversation with my deputy headteacher on how to develop my career without looking for a new job. I had been devising, developing and delivering inset days on teaching and learning, as well as mentoring and coaching colleagues for some time. But I wanted…
First published in the Guardian on Tuesday 18 February 2014. When I was 15 years old my mother died. She passed away over the summer holiday, which meant I didn’t have to deal with the initial aftermath of her death at school. My father had been open about the seriousness of her illness and my brother…
First published by the Guardian on Wednesday 23 October 2013 A common question in religious education (RE) lessons is, “Why do I need to study RE when I don’t believe in God?” This is an inevitable question, and my standard reply is to emphasise that 33 million people in the UK do. An estimated 80% of the world’s…
First published by the Guardian on Saturday 31 August 2013 “Oceanians live in a constant state of being monitored by the Party, through the use of advanced, invasive technology,” states George Orwell in 1984. This monitoring, according to Orwell, is the application of “science and technology to curtail human freedom and privacy, and to control human…
First published in the Huffington Post on 14th August 2013 It’s not easy being young. According to a recent study a third of Swedish teenagers are suffering from chronic stress. In the US an estimated 10% of students suffer from a serious anxiety disorder and in the UK 10% of children suffer from some form of mental disorder, which include anxiety…
First published by the Guardian 8th July 2013 Two years ago my school did not offer an optional full GCSE course in religious studies (RS) let alone an option to study it at A-level. It did, however, force all students to study a GCSE short course, which was not particularly popular. Next year we will…
First posted on the Guardian website on 10th June 2013. If the sheer amount of work generated by school has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation before, during or after school. Even a few minutes meditation can give students and teachers a sense of calm and peace of mind that benefits their emotional and physical…
First published by the Guardian on 12th April 2013. Outside speakers can be invaluable to schools. I particularly remember Zigi Shipper, a survivor of Auschwitz, who told a story in my school that resonated with the students so much that they wanted to organise a remembrance concert for victims of the Holocaust. Another inspirational moment came…
First published by the Guardian on 20 February 2013 “A high culture is the self-consciousness of a society”, Roger Scruton wrote last year in the Guardian. “It contains the works of art, literature, scholarship and philosophy that establish a shared frame of reference among educated people.” As a teacher, the last part of this statement interested me…
First published on the Guardian website on 22 August 2012 Despite being an atheist who reasons the world is over four billion years old, I enjoy teaching the opposite idea that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The idea of creation, and the myths and theories associated with creationism, offer a myriad…
First published in the Guardian on Monday 30th July 2012 Having just taught a series of religious education lessons called ‘Religion – Do we have a choice?’, I decided to re-read a chapter in Richard Dawkin’s http://richarddawkins.net/ book The God Delusion entitled Childhood, Abuse and the Escape from Religion. As on my first reading, I was…
First published in the Guardian on 21st June 2012 As a religious studies teacher, I feel that empathy is an essential skill for all students. Learning to empathise will better equip students to interpret the experiences of others, especially when others’ attitudes, beliefs and ways of thinking are alien to their own. It also allows…
The impact of religion on the contemporaneity world is obvious Published in the Guardian 6th September 2011 The coming school year holds uncertainties for the role of religious education in schools in England and Wales. In July the Department for Education announced that RE will definitely be left out of the English baccalaureate (EBacc), despite concern from the education select committee, the National…
Goffs School Religious Studies Blog 